M. Graham Walnut Alkyd Medium

This special medium was developed to provide a non-toxic, environmentally responsible alternative to solvent based, rapid drying alkyd mediums. It closely resembles combinations of sun-thickened oil and natural resins used throughout the history of art, but with the advantage of being solvent-free.

Not many non-toxic oil mediums out there, so very happy to have found this. On the can, it says to use 3 drops per inch of paint. Wonder if that means inch of paint squeezed out of the tube, or inch of brushed out paint??? Anyhow, I use more than they recommend, and I also mix it with linseed oil. Doesn't change the color of the paint, helps make the paint more spreadable, and helps the oils dry more quickly. Out of the can, it is slightly thicker than linseed oil, and not as thick as stand oil. A real pleasure to work with. Maybe it's the cost, but I reach for the linseed oil more often than this medium, even though I love using it. Highly recommended!

I have used many different media, and I think this is one of the best.It's non-evaporative, good for your health. It applies much more smoothly than Neo megalp and Galkyd.It dries very fast, usually completely dry within a day. I suppose you can't layer it on top of each other directly, so I usually just add a tiny amount of walnut oil for the second layer, and so on, so forth. I really like the product and am using it everyday.

I like this medium and have used it for a few months now. It seems to dry the paint in a day or so, though like one reviewer said, it can leave some colors slightly tacky for a few weeks or months. They are pretty much dry, just don't go running your fingers over them heavily.

As for Judy who complained about not having the dripper top on the bottle, Dick Blick sells some empty squeeze bottles with snap on caps. I buy the larger bottles of my mediums and just put a couple of ounces in the squeeze bottles and I am able to squeeze out just a couple drops in mixed paint spots. This also has the advantage of keeping your medium clean because you're not dipping dirty brushes into it.

My only complaint is that the Blick story here in Vegas didn't have any of this medium when I went in a couple of days ago. Grrrr.....

The product has a nice consistency and is odorless. I use it to thin the paint (Walnut oil) as necessary as I paint. It is too expensive for general clean up. My teacher leaves out a cheaper oil mixture for the last step to clean brushes before using soap and water.

The down side to this size is that there is no squeeze nozzle as in the smaller size I used to have, and the oil pours out too quickly, wasting it.

Most (fast drying) alkyd media contain a lot of evaporating solvents. This doesn't smell nice, but it also makes the paint darken a bit as it dries. This is especially a problem when re-touching lighter areas in a dry painting. The Graham alkyd medium contains no (or almost no) solvents, so the paint dries up almost the same value as it is in it's wet state. I tested a number of mediums for this quality, and Graham alkyd came out best. So now this has become my alkyd of choice..

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